Elevator signal



P. S. VAN BLOEM ELEVATOR SIGNAL Filed Feb. 26, 1925.

May 4, 2e. 1,583,506

INVENTOR Paul Sc/ny/er Van Bloem.

ATTORNEYS when the lampis illuminated by .30

Patented May 4, 1926.

FATE

PAUL SGHUY'LER VAN Home, on] nn vrrsmnanfnnw YORK, essreno'n' '-1 0 vmmrnonucrs CORPORATION, or NEW YORK, 1v. Y A consonarrolv or NEW Yonx.

nmveron sic-nan Application filed Feb ary 2 1925- s ri lm. 11,798.

To all whom tmcy concern: I v Be it known that 1, PAUL ScH YLER VANBLOEM, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Hempstead,f inthe county of Nassau and State of New York, have .invented certain newand useful Improvements in Elevator Signals of which the 'following is aspecification. A -This.invcntion, relates to signals for indicating theapproach of'an elevator car and the direction of'its travel. l An objectof the invention is to provide an elevator signal of simple form whichwhen .u'nilluminated will be inconspicuous but "which when illuminateupon the approach Cf anelevator car will be rendered very conspicuous Iand will distinctly indicate the direction of travel of the car.

.A further object is the'provisi'ono'l": a sigsubstantially j conceal a,lamp, ,The lamp cover is placed over a signal lamp project ing from ormounted in the wall adjacent the eleva or shaft and adapted to be i1-luminated when the elevator car approaches. The cover bears a directionindicating character which when unilluminated by the lamp isindistinctor entirely invisible but which pr a' h of'a arw ll b ome distinctlyvisible; The cover lens is also designedto reiract light rays receivedfrom the signal lamp and direct them rearwardly upon the wall back ofthe signal in order to surround the signal with a halo, This lncreasesthe con'spicuousness of the signal and calls at- "tention to theapproach of the car.

' In the drawings: Fig. l is a front view of the signal lens; Fig. 2 asectional view showing the lens mounted over the signal lamp; c Fig. 3 afront view'upon a reduced scale of a difierently shaped signal lens; and

0 shown) by the approach of an elevator car,

'A dished orsubstantially cup-shape glass 7 lens .3, is placed over thelamp 1 andsurthe ap-.

rounds a cl ses, the, outwardly project- 1ng end of theilamp. The lens 3is formed with a slightly convex, substantially verti cal, frontsignal-bear ng portion-o Wall 4:,

preferably circular n outline. Th fron 7 around its edges and thefrear'end of said .supportlng portlo'n'is suitably flanged an is adaptedto fitagainst the 'supporti ng Wal r other lens supporting m dium-Ii Theonclosing 7 Wall or m ber p ef rably *conti uous. and annular, as'shownFig 1 and 2. Thesaid support ng portionirleyy however, be rectangular incross section, and continuous as indicated in Fig. 3, which ilnal lensin'the-form of a cover adapted to supporting wall. and tocompletelyenclose the projcctingflportion o th signal lamp The lens .3is preferably formediof translucent glass of a suitable c lor o tha w ethe lens is dark oriunilluini at d the fa of the signal-bearing fron poronw l a a uniform color-land will give no evidence of bearlng a signalor directionndicating charact r. -Whcn, however, 'thel i i l 'luminatedlight rays will pass through the a substantially vertical frontsignal-bearing portion and through the continuous "enclos ng andsupporting, sub t n ally horizontal side mcrn cr5- The. di on ind catingsignaLIor character'wilhbe' more brilliantly illuminated than he :surrund- 11g por on o the igna aring member owing to he. fact-t a 'it s oconsiderab y ss thickness than themainbody oi the sa d I member, Fig. 4a sect onal view upon, a reduced The outer faoeot the signal-bearingfront wall or portione of the lens is slightly roughen d as at 1 2 toprovideda light" dif-- fus ng surface and the inher'face oi the saidwall is formed with. a depression 6 in th form f a direction'indi a ingcharacter- This charac r is indlstinct or invisible when the lamp isunilluminated, J W en-the lamp is illuminated by the approach of aoar'the entire front face of the lens will become lum inous and thdirection indicating charac er will be distinctly visible "owing to the,re-- back of the lens.

duced' thickness of the wall 4 at de pression and also to the reflectingand refracting effect of the side walls of the de the bottom of thedepression whereby they will reflect light rays from the lamp and directthem outwardly through the bottom of the depression. This concentrationof the light rays upon the character renders it more luminous. 7

The inner and outer faces 7 and 8 respectively of the portion 5 of thelens, are

straight from front to rear and diverge rear- Ition 5 is thus taperedand increases in thickwa'rdly as shown; The side member or porness fromfront to rear and acts upon the light rays received from the enclosedlamp in the manner of a prism. It refracts the said rays and, as theyemerge through the outer face 8, causes them, to be directed toward theroom wall or lens support at the This causes the signal to be surroundedby a halo of light which greatly increases its conspicuousness an callsattention to the approach ofa car. The member 5 is formed upon its outerface wlth radiating ribs 9 which diffuse the light and. add to theornamental appearance of the signal. These ribs 9 taper in the samemanner as the member 5 so that they also will refract the light raysfrom the lamp 1 rearwardly. At its rear edge the substantiallyhorizontal side portion or member 5 is formed with a flange 10 whichextends aroundthe lens and is adapted to abu the room wall 1. The lensis held in place upon the room wall in any suitable manner as by screws11.

While I have shown and described my invention as adapted for use as anelevator signal, it obviously has other adaptations,

' as for instance, it might be used as a sign or for illuminatingpurposes of a particular character. It is also obvlous that certaln.

' features of the signal structure such as the integral forming of thefront and side walls and their cross sectional shape may be variedwithout departing from the spirit of the invention. Fig. 4 illustrates aform of the inventionwherein the front portion of.

the lamp coveringis formed separately from the continuous lampsurrounding portion. surrounding portion is also shaped somewhatdifferently in cross section from that shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

-What I claim is: I 1. A. signal device comprising acupshaped lensformed with a vertically arranged front light-diffusing portion bearingan indicating character, and a substantially horizontal cylindricallamp-surrounding portion extending rearwardly from the said frontportion, the inner and outer surfaces of said cylindrical portion beingstraight in longitudinal section and diverging rearwardly and the rearend of said cylindrical portion being open, whereby the lens is adaptedto enclose a lamp and the lamp-surrounding portion is adapted to refractrays from the lamp and direct them. rearwar'dly and the front portionwill be luminous and surrounded with a halo of light caused by therearwardly refracted light rays.

2. A signal device comprising a cupshaped lens formed with a' verticallyarranged front light-diffusing portion bearing an indicating character,a substantiallyhorlzontal cylindrical lamp-surrounding ortion extendingrearwardly from the sai front portion, the inner and outer surfaces ofsaid cylindrical portion being straight in longitudinal section anddiverging rearwardly and the rear end of said cylindrical portion beingopen, whereby the lensis adapted to enclose a lamp and thelamp-surrounding portion is adapted to refract rays from the lampanddirect them rearwardly and the front portion will be luminous andsurrounded with a halo of light caused by the rearwardly refracted lightrays, and radially arranged longitudinally extending ribs on theexterior surface of the substantially cyl-- indrical lamp-surroundingportion, said ribs causing a lateral diffusion of the light rays as wellas the rearward refraction thereof.

3. A signal device comprising a cupshaped lens formed with a verticallyarranged front concavo-convex light-diffusing portion having parallelinner and outer surfaces and bearing an indicating character on itsinner face, and a substantially horizontal cylindrical lamp-surroundingportion extending rearwardly from the said front portion, the inner andouter surfaces of said cylindrical portion being straight inlongitudinal section and diverging rearwardly and the rear end of saidcylindrical portion being open, whereby the lens is adapted to enclose alamp and the lamp-surrounding portion is adapted to refract rays fromthe lamp and direct them rearwardly andthe front portion will beluminous and surtwo degrees of illumination of said front wall, and asubstantially horizontal cylindrical lamp-surrounding portion extendingrearwardly from the said front portion, the

inner and outer surfaces of said cylindrical portion being straight inlongitudinal section and diverging rearwardly and the rear end of saidcylindrical portion being open, whereby the lens is adapted to enclose alamp and the lamp-surrounding portion 1s adapted to refract rays fromthe lamp and direct them rearwa rdly and the front portion will'beluminous and surrounded'with a halo of light caused by the rearwardlyrefracted light rays.

5. A signal device comprising a cupshaped lens formed with a frontlight-diffusing portion bearing an indicating character on its innerface, and a lamp-surrounding portion extending rearwardly from the saidfront portion, the inner and outer surfaces of said lamp-surroundingportion being straight in longitudinal section and diverging rearwardlyand the rear end of said portion being open, whereby the lens is adaptedto enclose a lamp and the lampsurrounding portion is adapted to refractrays from the lamp and direct them rearwardly and the front portion willbe luminous and surrounded with a halo of light caused by the rearwardlyrefracted light rays. I

6.'A signal device comprising a cupshapedvlens formed with a frontlight-diffusing portion bearing an indicating character on its innerface, alamp-surrounding portion extending rearwardly from the said frontportion, the innerand outer surfaces of said lamp-surrounding portionbeing straight in longitudinal section and diverging rearwardly ahd therear end of said portion being open, whereby the lens is adapted toenclose a lamp and the lampsurroun'ding portion is adapted to refractrays from the lamp and direct them rearwardly and the front portion willbe luminous and surrounded with a halo of light caused by the rearwardlyrefracted light rays, and radially arranged longitudinally extendingribs on the exterior surface of the lamp-surrounding portion, sald rlbscausing a lateral diffusion of the light rays as well as the rearwardrefraction thereof.

7. A signal device comprising a cupshaped lens formed with a frontconcavoconvex light-diffusing portion having paran indicatingcharacteron its inner face,

and a lamp-surrounding portion extending rearwardlyvfrom the said frontportion, the

inner and outer surfaces of said lamp-surrounding portion being straightin longitudinal section and diverging rearwardly and the rear end ofsaid portion being open, whereby the lens is adapted to enclose a lamp.and the lamp-surroundingportion is adapted to refract rays from the lampand direct them rearwardly and the front portion will be luminous andsurrounded with a halo of light caused by the rearwardly refracted lightrays.

8. A signal device comprising a cup shaped lens formed with a frontconcavoconvex light-dilfusing portion having parallel inner and outersurfaces, aportion of said front wall being thinner than the main bodythereof to give two degrees ofillumination of said front wall, and alamp-surlens is adapted toenclose a lamp and the lamp-surroundingportion is adapted to refract rays from the lamp and direct themrearwardly and the front portion will be luminous and surrounded with ahalo oflight caused by the rearwardly refracted light'rays.

9. A. signal device comprising a cupshaped lens formed with 'avertically arranged front light-diffusing portion, and a substantiallyhorizontal hollow annular lamp-surrounding portion, the rear end ofsaidannular portion being open to adapt the lens toreceive a lamp, theinner and outer surfaces of said annular portion being constructed andarranged to refract rays from the lamp anddirect them rear wardly,whereby the front portion will be luminous with diffused light rays andsurrounded with a halo of light caused by the rearwardly refracted lightrays.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my i signature.

PAUL SCHUYLER VANv BLOEM.

